The End
by xCaptainBlaze
Summary: Years have past since Mike was trapped in the Nether. After so long in the desolate wasteland, he finally finds the way back into Minecraftia. But the Council aren't done with him yet... The second in the Tres Rengos Trilogy. Read The Nether before this one.
1. Chapter 1

A haggard man struggled over the top of the cliff, clambering over the precipice onto the rough red rock. The slate-like quality of the stone made it easy for him to climb. He pulled his sword out of his belt, the golden surface gleaming in the dim light from the lava lakes surrounding him. Grunting sounds issued from a small cave tunneling into the sloping roof. He cocked his head and listened intently, distinguishing two different pigmen. Charging in, he swung his sword with perfect precision, slicing down the first pigman's chest. It dissolved into a grey pile of dust with an ungodly scream, and Mike moved onto the next one. It slashed at him with its blade, but he parried and thrust his sword into its stomach. It followed suit, disintegrating. Its gold sword broke into several pieces, which Mike packed away into his backpack. Sorting through the heaps of dust, he procured several chunks of scorched meat, wrapping them in a cloth and putting them next to the shards of gold. Glancing around the cave, he saw that it would be a good place to stay the night. Going further into the cave, he took in the potential attributes of the small room. The shelf along one wall could be useful. He propped his backpack against the wall on the shelf and turned around. His breath caught in his throat.

Against the wall ahead was a black frame, dark against the red stone of the cavern wall. It was empty, but he knew all too well how to light it. Taking a shard of gold and a piece of rock from the debris littering the floor, he chipped them together, creating a spark. The portal lit up with a flurry of purple and he took a deep breath, not looking back and stepping into the frame. The tug of the other dimension pulled him up, up, and his vision went black.

* * *

**Finally, the long-awaited sequel to The Nether is out! Like I said, any contributions to the name of the trilogy would be very useful...**


	2. Chapter 2

Clerks lined the huge hall, sitting behind silvery desks. The few situated at the far end of the room noticed a fluttering of the sheets covering their desks, but didn't pay it any heed, merely flattening them down or pinning them to the table with a variety of obscurely arty paperweights. All them noticed, however, when a purple light began to fill the space.

Suddenly, a hole seemed to rip through the very fabric of reality, a black void. It was filled with a purple smoke and the edges sharpened, forming a black frame. The clerks all sprung up from their chairs, some running for it, some backing away and a brave few cautiously approaching the portal. Abruptly they stopped and flinched as a tall figure stepped through, gleaming sword at his belt, face set determinedly.

I stepped through, gritting my teeth against the pull of unconsciousness. Emerging from the purple vortex, I glanced around, analysing my surroundings. A great hall, white and silver. So, Kakonatos. No surprises there. Clusters of workers were cowering in the corners or flattened against a wall.

How _boring_.

Finally, a squad of security guards burst through some hidden doors further down the hall. Well, it was about time. Some of them hung back and strung bows, pointing them with no doubt _perfect_ aim, I was sure. The rest of them fanned out around me, swords gripped loosely. I just couldn't help myself.  
"That's not the way you hold a sword," I told the lad nearest to me, a young whelp of a guard, probably just added to the force. "You have to grip it like _this_." I stepped towards him and, before he could react, straightened his sword grip. He backed away, evidently terrified, and swung the sword threateningly. Suddenly his face changed, turning from half-baked menace to utter confusion. He swung it a bit more, then weighed it in his hand. I could tell he was fighting back a smile.  
"Feels better, doesn't it?" I asked him kindly. He nodded and cleared his throat, looking at the head of security. I strode through them. As expected, my calm demeanour threw them off completely, and some of them actually backed away to allow me past. I approached one of the archers, who looked like he would wet himself.

"And that's not how you aim," I chided. "Bend that arm, and straighten that one. Better, better... Try aiming up and left a bit, you should hit more often. Don't listen to all that crap about aiming completely straight. It doesn't work. That's good. Right, next time you get a chance try shooting at a further range. Remember, wind is everything when you're shooting outside..."  
I was cut off by a meaningful cough. Turning, the security guard approached me. I smiled and raised my hands in the universal code for 'unarmed and definitely not dangerous'.

"Mike Callahan, former Delta Squad miner. Take me to your leader!" I proclaimed. He nodded tersely and the group formed a tight circle around me. As we began to walk, I turned to my left where the rookie was walking, and whispered, "I've always wanted to say that!" He gave a snort of suppressed laughter and clamped a hand over his mouth to stop himself. I grinned and turned back towards the front, following them through the halls to where I would hopefully be finding out what the Nether had gone on while I was away.

* * *

**The uploads to this story won't be particularly often given that I'm back at school, but hopefully I can get them out more regularly than The Nether. That was _terrible_.**


	3. Chapter 3

They directed me to a large office, where a thickset man in a suit sat behind an imposing desk. He dismissed the guards and indicated for me to sit. I did so, and he leant forward, resting his hands on his desk.  
"You are Mike Callahan of the Delta mining squad?" he asked. I nodded. He shuffled the papers on his desk and looked at me disbelievingly.  
"Our archives say you were killed on the sixteenth of the second month in the lunar year 405," he told me. I gave him an odd look.  
"How long has it been since then?" I asked him, almost not wanting to know. "It felt like months..."  
"It is now the year 492," he said seriously. "You were in the Nether for almost ninety years." I just stared at him until I found my voice.  
"That's impossible," I snapped, voicing my doubts. "I haven't aged at all. I can't have been in there for more than six months at most."  
"Time moves slower in the Nether," he explained. I frowned.  
"So why wasn't I told when I left?" I asked angrily.  
"For the simple reason that we didn't know that when we had the first expedition," he said calmly. I couldn't believe it. They had sent me there and left me for dead.

"Have you had any more expeditions?" I said, to distract me from my fantasies of throttling the Head of Council. He nodded.  
"We have set up outposts there, even colonies. Of course, the local wildlife is a problem, but we found that several materials are able to combat them." I sat back in my chair, attempting to entertain the notion of flying jellyfish that shoot fireballs that explode you into flaming chunks being mere 'problems'. Finding it impossible, I decided to move onto the more immediate question.  
"So, what have I missed?" I asked. He gestured to the window. I rose and looked out, my mouth dropping open.  
No longer was the surrounding area woodland mountains. No longer could I see my little town over the ocean, with its two districts and its distinctive mining warehouses. The area had been taken over completely by a flat, silver landscape.

"You turned it into a city?" I asked him huskily. He nodded proudly.  
"Isn't it an amazing sight?" he said. For the second time in the interview, I simply stared at him, speechless. Everything – my house, my mine, my docks. Everything was gone. Everything I cared about.  
"According to the records, you are –" Here he checked the page in front of him. "An 'experienced spelunker."  
"Spelunker?" I echoed. He nodded.  
"It is a Yogscastian term, meaning explorer," he explained. I nodded, holding onto the window sill for balance.  
"Now, it is getting late. You should retire to your rooms. We have prepared a suite for you in Kakonatos, which you can view as yours. Sergeant Ballard will direct you to it." I nodded and left the room where a guard stood to attention. He saluted and turned on his heel. I took the cue and followed him, entering the suite he directed me to and collapsing on the bed. Before I drifted off, one thought snaked across my mind like mist.  
_I should have stayed in the Nether. _

* * *

**Ahem. I'm sorry. I have no idea what happened last chapter... Well, actually that's a lie. It was a mixture of a sugar high and absolute exhaustion. **_  
_

**Yay for Yogscast references!  
**


	4. Chapter 4

After a short heavy sleep, I woke early. I was used to sleeping a minimal amount and I would only take short rests in the Nether, never stopping the whole night, always moving on. Crossing to the window, I gazed out over the massive buildings, struggling to come to terms with the change. How was it possible that such a huge shift had happened in a mere ninety years? The stretching landscape began to give me a headache, so I turned and began the meal laid out for me on a silver tray. It was difficult to remind myself that food was not scarce here, that I didn't need to scavenge to survive. The rich flavours were almost repulsive to me, used to the pungent sweetness of Nether Wart and before that the coarse bread that was the product of the ration grain we were given. Eventually I settled for draining most of the basket of bread rolls. Even those tasted odd, and a little spicy.

A knock on the door sent my hand reflexively towards my belt for my sword before I remembered it wasn't there. Opening my door, I saw it was the sergeant from the day before.  
"The Head of Council wants to see you," he told me tersely. I swear, my blood pressure was driven up a few points just at the mention of his name. I reminded me that the Head of Council I knew was long dead and followed the soldier through the corridors to the office I had been in the day before. Again, we went through the rigmarole of greetings and the like before getting to business.

"We have a little project going," he said with a small smile. "Have you heard of a Stronghold?" I shook my head. "Well, I'm not surprised. The first Stronghold was found roughly thirty years after your disappearance. We investigated it thoroughly and found a curious portal."  
There's no other way to describe it. I facepalmed so hard I'm surprised I didn't break the desk.  
"How did I know," I mumbled through my palm. "Of _course_ there's a portal, no doubt leading to some terrible land of evil and darkness and death, which nobody has ever gotten out of."  
"How did you know?" asked the Head of Council, disbelief evident in his voice.  
"It's not a vast stretch of the imagination, I can assure you," I replied dryly. "So basically you want me to go in, do whatever it is you guys make the grunts do and come back in hopefully no more than a few pieces?"  
He seemed at a loss for a few seconds. "Yeah," he admitted sheepishly. "That's one way of putting it."

"Alright, am I on my own or with a group?" I asked him. "And it had better be a good one if I'm in a group. Last time it was a traitor and a pair of war veterans." I felt a little bad, feeling I hadn't given Bill and Zoey enough credit. "A badass pair of war veterans," I amended quickly.  
"We assure you, you have a squad of our best soldiers," he told me proudly. "You'll be kitted out in the best gear Kakonatos can provide – and that is some impressive gear. The portals aren't up and running, though, so you'll need to take the seals and activate it yourself. It's not difficult."  
"I have one question," I said thoughtfully.  
"Fire away," he prompted. I gave him a hard look.  
"I take it that blaze rods are necessary to activate it?" I asked. He nodded. "Of course. And why didn't you know about it, if I was sent to get blaze rods to activate one?"  
He averted his eyes from mine, suddenly looking uncomfortable.

"How about this. The Fire-Frost family had the best library in this entire biome. Why didn't you check the books and see what you could find?"  
He coughed. "Well, you see, there was the Great Purge around seventy years ago..."  
"Go on," I prompted him, steeling myself.  
"People began to get worried by magic. They were suspicious and when your party didn't return from the Nether, things began to boil below the surface. Eventually people rebelled against the Council and destroyed a great deal of magic-related items. The library was first on the agenda. The mansion was burned to the ground."  
I just sat there, processing this.  
"They burned the books," I said slowly. He nodded.

"All our best records were lost to the rioters," he told me. "We regained control and restored magic to the normal scheme of things. But there was one casualty."  
"Who?"  
"The Fire-Frost housekeeper. Poor old woman only tried to stop them. We think she went down with the house."  
Rage bubbled deep inside me. Not yet, I told myself, but it was difficult. _Very_.  
"So back to the subject of the Stronghold," I said, changing subject to keep a lid on my temper. "When do we leave?"  
"Depends if you want specialist training or not."  
"I think ninety years in the Nether is training enough."  
"Fair enough. In that case after we feed you up a bit, you leave in two days."  
"Sounds good to me. And what do you mean, feed me up? I'm not... Okay, I'm skinny, but I'm not malnourished. Technically. Well, sort of... But that's not the point! I don't need feeding up!" I said defiantly.  
"Like it or not, it's happening," he said calmly. "Sergeant Ballard will show you the gym and cafeteria." I nodded and stood, contemplating the revelations I had received.

* * *

**:O A Stronghold? What a surprise! It totally wasn't given away by the story title! **


	5. Chapter 5

The training sessions were long and hard, but I found them useful. While my techniques with the bow and blade were effective, some of them were outdated and I picked up some new tricks. The instructors were impressed – my time in the Nether had honed my skills much more than any amount of practise could. We recapped survival techniques – rationing food, staying unnoticed, that kind of thing. After the few days I spent there, I was ready for anything they could throw at me.

The day we began the expedition, I woke refreshed. I had had a long, solid night's sleep (by my standards anyway – four or five hours was more than enough) and woke early, when the first beams of light were spilling over the landscape behind the glass of my window. I dressed in the black uniform laid out at the bottom of my bed and tried unsuccessfully to flatten my unruly hair, then walked down the corridor to the main hall, noting and liking the steady sound of my thick boots on the linoleum. In the hall, a squad of guards in similar uniform to me were organising themselves. One of them broke away from the pack and saluted to me, then shook my hand.

"Callahan?" she asked tersely. I nodded. "I'm Sergeant Thames, second in command. An honour to be serving under you, sir." Her voice was clipped and sharp and calm. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a simple bun. Everything about her spoke of authority.  
"The honour is mine," I replied. "What supplies do we have to take?"

"A squad of four soldiers, each equipped with diamond-core steel blades and jungle-wood bows – the strongest and most supple wood in Minecraftia. In addition, each has a torch, a basic first-aid kit and enough dried rations and water to keep them going for at least two weeks – three if the resources are pooled. We have the same kit, though I have a specially reinforced blade and bow, and you have similar equipment with enchantments on them." I raised my eyebrow.  
"Enchantments?" I queried. "Which enchantments?"

"Your sword is magically sharpened, with extra power in it that will knock the enemy back. The bow is enchanted with an identical knockback effect and the power to set the target aflame," she clarified. I picked up the blade, sitting on a table, and swung it a couple of times. The weight was good and I could sense the power in it, but it just felt... wrong.

"You say this is identical in all but enchantment to yours, correct?" I asked her. She nodded. I handed her the sword and took her one from the table.  
"You take the enchanted ones. I prefer to rely on skill alone." She nodded again and equipped herself silently, sliding the bow into the holster slung across her back and slotting the sword in its sheath into a leather loop on her belt. I did the same and slipped the various parts of my kit into their respective slots in my belt, then called to the squad.

"Alright, everyone got everything they need?" I asked them. I received a chorus of nods and affirmatives, and I led them out of the hall to the front. We marched down to the mines, all closed off, where the guards opened the gates for us. Descending the seemingly endless steps, we finally reached a roughly carved stone tunnel, which slowly changed to smooth blocks interlaced with moss. The tunnel opened up to a small, square room, which branched out into three other tunnels.  
"Let's set up here and scout out the place," I ordered. They nodded and we began to split up into groups.

* * *

**I am so sorry it took this long! I've been stressed out about schoolwork and shtuff... **


	6. Chapter 6

Hours of searching produced nothing useful, and I returned empty-handed to the original room where the others were. The sergeant took me aside and handed me a rough map.  
"The other squad found something. A set of stairs, descending further than they could see. Our best guess is that that's where we're supposed to go. We'll sleep here tonight and then get moving in the morning."

A small meal and seven hours of sleep later, I woke early. Checking my watch, I saw it was six in the morning. We should get moving.  
"Everyone up," I said. They woke slowly and I became irritated with the pace of their movement, but kept my annoyance in check. I had trained myself to be alert at all times - being tired was equal to being suicidal in the Nether. After a painfully long half hour, they were ready, and we set off following the map. For the first hour or so, it was simple going - easy turns, linear tunnels, and no disturbances. It was eerily silent, but not ominously so. After a while, however, the tunnels started to veer downwards. We were going towards the very bedrock of Minecraftia, and fast. At an estimated level forty or so, I began to hear... _things_. Scratching in the rock. Chirruping noises, like very high-pitched birds. It unnerved me, and I could tell the others were bothered by it. Fifteen minutes in, one of them gave in.

"Can you hear-"  
"We know," I replied, my voice taut with tension. The tunnel opened up to a flat plateau, which then curved down into a stairway bordered with gaping, empty voids. I took the lead, stepping down the stone stairs, my torch held high. The flickering light danced a waltz over the grey slabs, spinning the moss around and whirling with the cracks, mocking us with its fleeting presence. As the light hit the deeper cracks I saw spiders scuttling away into the stonework. A shiver ran up my spine.

Turn after turn, and I would have been completely lost if not for the map in my hand. Eventually I held up my hand and we stopped silently. We had stopped at a junction, the tunnel we had left behind us and five tunnels branching off ahead in a circle. A sudden noise had me whirling around, my hand on my sword. Again I heard it, this time to my left. Quick, quiet padding noises on stone. We wordlessly regrouped into a circle, drawing our swords. To my right I heard it getting louder, and then to my left, then right in front of me. Something was coming.  
"Hold your ground," I ordered. Silence fell over us for a second, and then I see a single hairy limb extend into the light of the torches.  
Another followed, then another, and then two more. A pair of furry mandibles and eight huge, bulbous, glimmering black eyes. Its body emerged into the light, hunched and so low it almost scraped the floor, fat and covered in coarse black fur.

It approached slowly, warily. I realised I have been standing completely still and shifted my grip on the stone floor. The small sound provoked it, and it lunged.  
Instinctively my sword lashed out, skimming over the glittering sheen of wetness on one of its eyes. It let out a harsh screech of pain and scuttled up the wall, throwing itself at me from the ceiling. Crying out, I launched myself forward, missing its dripping mandibles by inches and landing on the floor hard. My sword skittered out of reach. Hearing the padding of its legs as it righted itself, I rolled over onto my back and thrust up the torch into its belly. Another howl pierced my ears and it collapsed. Its death must have scared the others off, since when I pushed myself to a sitting position, I saw two big black shapes retreating into the darkness. The sergeant took my hand and pulled me to my feet.

"What the Nether were those things?" I asked, panting. Her lips tightened.  
"What did they tell you about the renunciation of magic?" she asked. "Never mind. Get your sword and we can keep moving." I grabbed it from a nest of webs in the corner and let her lead, since I lost my torch. Ten minutes later, we reached the top of the staircase.

* * *

Ermahger. I'm so sorry D: I know it took a stupidly long time to get this chapter out, but school and work and mehh T_T  
Also ACTION! You have no idea how itchy my neck was while writing about the spiders :c I do NOT like spiders.


	7. Chapter 7

We stared at the staircase in silence for a few moments, taking in the sight. It was wide and had large, shallow stone steps, with moss growing over the sides onto the passage way. On either side of it were two large gaps between it and the unrelenting rock wall, and below it opened onto a chasm of which we could not see the end, although we could hear water trickling down there. To fall from that staircase would mean death.

Slowly, we began to descend. Sergeant Thames took the lead, holding her torch high above her to illuminate the pitch black. I followed her, then the rest of the squad after me. We walked for the best part of an hour, the monotonous darkness beginning to become oppressive. At one point, I heard a cry from behind me and whipped around, seeing one of the squad members start to tip forward into the emptiness. I grabbed his arm and the soldier on his other side grabbed the other, and together we pulled him back up. Crouching, I ran my fingers across the piece of stone he had stepped on. It disintegrated under my hand, the little chunks and powdered rock running in rivulets off the staircase. Closer to the centre of the stair it hardened and refused to collapse.  
"Watch your step," I ordered. "Keep to the centre of the stair." They nodded and we proceeded quietly, the only sounds being the crackling torches and our feet on the stone. Fifteen more minutes passed, and finally the torchlight fell on a stone floor at the bottom.

With my feet not suspended above Notch-knows-how-much emptiness, I took a deep breath of the stale air and surveyed the room. It was fairly simple, with a single tunnel going straight ahead. We headed down it, and were only walking for a few seconds before it opened up into a small, unassuming room with a square structure in the centre.  
Thames approached it briskly, opening her backpack and pulling out a handful of small, purple spheres, along with a small, tightly sealed leather bag. She rested the orbs on the side of the structure and got to work on the knots on the bag while I investigated the thing. It was large, about two metres on each side, blue with tarnished gold decoration on the top. It was split into sixteen blocks, with the central four missing. The remaining twelve each had a small circular hole in the top.

Returning to Thames' side, I examined one of the orbs. It was a deep plum colour, and glittering sparkles caught the light, embedded inside it.  
"What are these things?"  
"Ender Pearls."  
"Oh." I gingerly put it down.  
Finally she loosened the knot and reached in. When she took her hand out again, her fingers were coated in orange powder which flickered like fire. Gently she ran them over the orb in her hand and the orange somehow floated off her fingers and into the purple. Where it touched, the colour paled and warped to a fluorescent blue. She put it down and got to work on the others.

"Put them in the holes when I finish changing them," she told me. I nodded and took the one she had already finished, dropping it into one of the holes in the blocks. It fiercely glowed for a few seconds, then faded to a glimmering turquoise. I did the same with all of the others except for one that she kept in her hand.  
"This is what you went to the Nether for," she told me, setting it down on the side. I scowled.  
"What do you mean? I went to the Nether for Blaze Rods."  
"I know. That powder is crushed Rods. We needed them to get into this portal."  
"This is a portal?"  
"Yes. When I add the last Pearl, it will open a portal to The End. That is where our final destination lies."  
"Why do we need to go there?"  
Thames looked up at me with steady, yet saddened eyes. "We go there to slay the Enderdragon."

"The Enderdragon is a huge creature, with scales as black as night and eyes glowing purple. It can carve ravines in the landscape with a flick of its wing, and tear you to shreds with a single snap of its jaws. It feels no pity, no remorse, no love, no hate. Just a lust to kill all who invade its realm."  
"Why do we need to kill it?"  
"The Egg."  
"Why do we need an egg?"  
"Not just an egg, The Egg. The Egg of the Dragon. The Egg that will, someday, hatch into another dragon that will terrorize our lands. If we don't get the Egg, Minecraftia will be completely destroyed."

"At some point in the distant future. Isn't the Council supposed to leave it stupidly late and make the heroes of the day save Minecraftia at the very last minute, with a nice dramatic ending usually involving death or betrayal?"  
"Not so distant, actually. The astronomers have been checking, and all the omens that herald the birth of an Enderdragon have been appearing steadily. So yes, they did leave it stupidly late, and we do need to save Minecraftia at the very last minute. Hopefully we can skip the death and betrayal part."  
I stared at her for a few seconds. "Oh."  
"Yeah."  
She rose from her seat on the edge of the portal and took up the last Pearl.  
"Ready?"  
"Yes."

Reaching forward, she dropped it into the hole, and the world collapsed.

* * *

**Slowly but surely, we're getting closer to the End. I'll be dragging this out for at least three more chapters, and then I can get on with the Mellifluousness-inspired ending.**


	8. Chapter 8

Shards of white light floated around me. I was suspended in the Void, wisps of purple smoke swirling silently. I had no idea which way was up or down, just a sense of... being. I watched as the emptiness twisted itself into existence, thick tendrils erupting from nothing and converging into a black portal. It grew bigger and bigger, the purple mists flowing through it, and I realised I was being pulled towards it. Quickly the blackness enveloped me.

I felt falling, then suspension, and with an abrupt jolting motion the world reformed around me. I was lying on the stone floor of the tunnel, the red light from the torches pooling around me. Groaning, I pushed myself up and stepped towards the portal where the others were doing the same. Where there had been blank stone was now a mere drop into emptiness. I checked my belt – my sword was there, and my knapsack was on my back. I glanced around at them.

"We jump together," I ordered. Together we stepped up onto the edge of the portal.  
"Three."  
We looked down into the black, the room silent.  
"Two."  
A shuffling sound dully reached my ears, but I didn't register it, too focused on the portal.  
"O-"

Suddenly I felt my legs be yanked out from underneath me. I fell forwards, my nose crunching against the rock, and rolled over to face my attacker. Fumbling at my belt, I had my sword halfway out of its holster when I realised what was standing over me, and my eyes widened in horror. It was a figure with the same proportions as a Minecrafter, but... rotted, somehow. Its skin was coated in green kelp, with white milky eyes. A beetle scuttled out of the cavity where its heart used to reside, now just a gaping brown hole. A strangled cry escaped my lips and I flailed at it with my sword, managing to slice off a chunk of its shoulder. It slowly turned its head to look at the injury, then turned back to me and reached down with one hand for my neck. Reacting instinctively, I thrust up with my sword, impaling its neck and nearly decapitating it. It fell forwards, collapsing against me and the portal.

I pushed it off with a curse and struggled to my feet, turning to see my squad. They were looking at the tunnel with terror etched into their expressions. I looked around and saw the stone come alive with movement, tiny bodies wriggling out of the floor, walls, even ceiling. Malicious red eyes gleamed in the torchlight and they shuffled with terrifying speed towards us. As if we had planned it, we turned and jumped into the portal without a second thought.

* * *

**Yay, I'm back into writing this again ^-^**


End file.
